in the kitchen with: bee yinn low’s pan-fried dumplings

I love dumplings of all types and rarely pass up the opportunity to try out highly recommended dim sum restaurants. Because they are so easy to make, I also like trying them at home, so I’m very excited about this week’s recipe for Pan-Fried Pork, Shrimp and Cabbage Dumplings from Bee Yinn Low. Pork and shrimp is one of my favorite dumpling combinations. If you love dumplings and are interested in a vegetarian option, try our recipe from Helen Yuet Ling Pang for Mushroom Dumplings. If you’re vegan and would like a recipe, try the fabulous recipe for Vegan Wontons in our archive by Andrea Nguyen, the queen of Asian dumplings! (I can guarantee they are exceptional and easy to make!) — Kristina

About Bee: Bee Yinn Low is a cookbook author, professional recipe developer and publisher of Rasa Malaysia. Bee’s first cookbook, Easy Chinese Recipes, is currently the top-selling Chinese cookbook on Amazon. As a recipe developer, Bee works with brands such as Mizkan America and WorldFoods. Bee’s website, Rasa Malaysia, offers easy and authentic Asian cooking, from Chinese, Malaysian, Japanese and Southeast Asian recipes to Asian-style baking. You can follow Bee on Twitter at @rasamalaysia.

The full recipe continues after the jump…

Pan-Fried Dumplings with Pork, Shrimp and CabbageMakes 24 dumplings

Ingredients

1 pack dumpling wrappers (round-shaped) or homemade dumpling wrappers

oil, for pan-frying

150 ml water, for steaming

Chinese black vinegar or ponzu, for dipping

For the Filling

8 oz ground pork

4 oz shelled and deveined shrimp, cut into small pieces

2 oz cabbage, finely shredded

1 heaping teaspoon grated ginger

1 heaping teaspoon chopped scallion

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

3 dashes white pepper

pinch of salt

Preparation

1. Prepare the filling by combining all the ingredients together. Use a spoon to mix well.

2. To assemble the dumplings, place a piece of the wrapper on your palm and spoon 1/2 heaping tablespoon of the filling onto the center of the wrapper. Do not overfill.

3. Dip your index finger into a small boil of water and moisten the outer edges of the wrapper.

4. Fold the dumpling to form a half-moon shape and pinch the edges backward to look like a Chinese ingot (see picture above). Press and seal tightly. Arrange the wrapped dumplings on a plate lined with parchment paper to avoid the dumpling from sticking to the bottom of the plate. Repeat previous steps until the filling is used up.

5. Heat some oil in a small skillet or pan over medium heat. Arrange 8 dumplings on the skillet or pan. Pan-fry the dumplings until the bottom turns light brown, about 2 to 3 minutes.

6. Add 50 ml water to the skillet or pan and turn the heat to high. Cover the skillet or pan with its lid and let steam. Turn the heat back to medium as soon as the water has completely evaporated.

7. Add some oil to the pan again and continue to pan-fry the dumplings until the bottoms turn golden brown and become crispy.

8. Repeat steps 5–7 for the remaining dumplings.

9. Serve the dumplings warm with the dipping sauce of your choice.

Homemade Dumpling Wrappers

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup water plus 1 teaspoon water

extra all-purpose flour, for dusting and rolling

Preparation

1. Combine the all-purpose flour and water and knead until the dough isn’t sticky and the surface becomes smooth. Cover it with a damp cloth and rest for 30 minutes.

2. Roll out the dough on a floured surface into a long cylinder.

3. Cut the cylinders in half, and then cut each cylinder into 12 small pieces.

4. Dust the rolling pin and roll each piece of the dough into a dumpling wrapper about 4 inches in diameter. Set aside for the filling.

Why Bee Chose This Recipe

I love this recipe because it’s easy, quick and always delicious. I can prepare the dumplings in 30 minutes and have a hearty lunch or afternoon snack. I also love that the dumplings taste great without any dipping sauce, so you can eat them with or without dipping sauce. I provide a choice of Chinese black vinegar (traditional dipping sauce) or Japanese ponzu (which is lighter in taste and not that overpowering) as the dipping sauce. This recipe is perfect for the upcoming Lunar New Year. It’s a must-eat for the Chinese, as the ingot shape implies great fortune and prosperity in the new year.

These look amazinggg but I think the vegetarian version is calling my name. We just got our first real snowfall here in Chicago and comfort foods like dumplings are now extra-appealing. I just cooked up a big pot of vegetarian chili (recipe on my blog) that should last through the weekend, but these are on my must-make list for next week.

This look fantastic! I have always prepared potstickers with pre-made dumpling wrappers, but I’m definitely going to try this homemade version. I only hope I can make mine look as beautiful as yours. Yum!

Most of the recipes on the column are vegetarian, so you should be able to find quite a few options in our archives. We do also try to get a reasonable number of vegan items as well. Recipes with meat are by far the minority. If you try anything else out, please let us know how you liked it!

@Holly — you can definitely make a big batch and freeze them. I like to wrap each dumpling, dip the bottom in flour, and line them up on a cookie sheet. Put the cookie sheet in the freezer for at least an hour, preferably a little longer, to give them a chance to firm up. Then transfer to a ziplock. If you put the dumplings into a bag immediately after wrapping them, they’ll meld together into one huge lump (trust me, this has happened to me many times).

I just wanted to leave you a post and thank you for the recipe. Through this post I have learned how to make dumplings that work for my family – they LOVE that I can make them from scratch and it never fails to impress guests. Of course, mine don’t look NEARLY that pretty, but ah, oh well :) Thanks!!

Yummy those look good! I have a question regarding the ground pork and the shrimp though. Should one pre cook the meat prior to stuffing or will the meat get done as one fries and steams the dumpling??
Thank you for sharing!

I love pork Dumplings & this photos look awesome! Thanks for the step by step guide.

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